We made it to Beijing!

So happy to report we have made it to Beijing! It was a long few days of travel but we are here and looking forward to having a full night sleep not in a semi-upright position! 

On Monday afternoon, we left for Grammy's house. Two flights later and way past bedtime we were there. The kids did great flying and were thrilled to see Grammy and their aunts/uncle and cousins! 

                     Wide awake at 11 something PM, waiting for Grammy to pick us up

   Joseph was wired by the time we landed and kept himself occupied by waving to each     

   bus that came by. One bus driver made his night by waving AND honking the horn! 

The next morning we made the girls a paper chain of days left until Mama, Daddy and Joseph came home with Matthew. 

Got ourselves all ready and said our goodbyes.  

One last picture as a family of 5...

When we got to the airport there was a small problem with our itinerary. As we waited for the agent to get a manager to override the issue Joseph kept busy being "the newest employee of American Airlines". He helped check in a customer and move bags to the conveyor belt. 

Once we were finally checked in and through security we had some time to kill. What's a boy to do? RUN and get some energy out! 

Before we boarded the plane we met the pilot. He was so nice and as we boarded gave Joseph a tour of the cockpit. 

He told him to come back and see him at the end of the flight to get a log book. As we landed the pilot welcomed everyone to LAX and then gave a special shout out to "special aviator Joe Joe"! When we got to the front of the plane the pilot was standing there to give Joseph his log book and some cookies! Inside the log book the pilot had written down all of the flight info and a special note that said, "Congratulations on your new brother Jo Jo! THANKS FOR PUTTING A SMILE ON MY FACE!"

It was finally time to get on the big airplane and take it all the way to China! 

We rode on the new airbus A-380. It was incredible. Joseph loved the stairwell and ended up going upstairs twice for a tour during the 14.5 hour flight! 

The flight itself was great. Just very, very long. We watched at least 3 movies each. Slept about 6 hours and ate 2 very interesting meals. We finally tried Congee, a food Matthew eats a lot of.

When we landed we were finally in China! But we still needed to fly to Beijing. Thankfully we got to fly another new plane, the 787 Dreamliner. China Southern airline was awesome. And Joseph was such a trooper throughout the 29+ hours of travel to get from the US to Beijing. He never once complained about how long it was taking. 

When we finally landed in Beijing we were greeted by our agency's guide, Jolene. On the bus on the way to the hotel we got to see some of downtown Beijing. It seems similar to home but then it is so different in other ways. There is a great mix of old and new here. And I love seeing the Chinese characters everywhere! 

The Beijing airport

The Bank of China

This is a new shopping mall! Jolene told us it was built in feng shui style and will open soon. 

The CCTV building

One of the few Catholic Churches here. It is just down the road from our hotel. 

After checking into the hotel Joseph got a picture with Jolene, our agency rep. She taught him how to pose with his hands so that they make a heart :)

Our room overlooks this area of the hotel. 

We are so happy to finally be here and be so close to Matthew. It still seems very surreal that we are this close. Tomorrow we tour the forbidden city and tianamen square. Thankful we get to experience this stuff while we are here but Monday cannot come soon enough! Can't wait to all be able to love on Matthew!!